JoomConnect Blog

JoomConnect is the Marketing Agency for MSPs. We strive to help IT companies get more leads and grow. We rock at web design, content marketing, campaigns, SEO, marketing automation, and full marketing fulfillment.

Whether you are determining what marketing strategies to use in your MSP’s overall marketing efforts, or deciding what to do during your next marketing campaign, it helps to know who you are marketing to.

One of the biggest mistakes that many small businesses make is to not attempt to seek out new clients. They hope that an ideal client will stumble across their company in a Google search, or maybe hear about them by speaking to another small business owner in the area. And yes, this definitely does happen. I’m sure that’s how you’ve gotten a lot of your clients.

Case studies are a key marketing tool that too few small businesses take advantage of. But, using case studies to showcase your problem-solving capabilities can be an especially powerful social proof and lead to an increase in conversion rates.

Even though it might seem like eons for some of us, every now and then, it’s important to think back to when you started down the path of IT services. What was it about business technology that drew you in? You knew that your gift with technology meant you could provide a service of extreme value to other businesses. Technology improves their business and you improve their technology. That spark of idealism is a little thing called passion. You remember it. It’s why you’re here - and the purpose behind remembering why you are a part of the IT channel is more than just a nice stroll down memory lane. Your passion just might be the thing your marketing is missing.

Landing pages are an essential piece of any online marketing strategy, but only if they’re put together properly. In today’s blog, we’ll discuss the ins and outs of creating landing pages that encourage conversions.

When marketing your business, the general wisdom is that inbound marketing is a good thing to include in your overall strategy. This is because it effectively draws in your most interested audience, in addition to usually being more cost-effective than most outbound avenues. Today, we’ll focus on what your inbound strategy should be based on, as well as a few actions to take as you implement it.

Twitter has been transformed by the B2B marketing community by offering another platform to engage with your audience, to address their questions, to contribute valuable knowledge, to accentuate what your company stands for. Every day there are opportunities that you could be embracing from being active on social media. Whether you turn these opportunistic moments into high-quality leads, well that is your prerogative.

It's an unfortunate fact that if a company were to focus its services exclusively to the needs of a particular industry, regardless of how successful it was in delivering high-quality solutions, it would at some point reach its cap. After all, even if this company managed to secure every member of that industry as a client, there are only so many industry members to serve.

In our January newsletter, there was an article entitled When Rebranding your Company Might Be a Good Idea, outlining a few warning signs that signified when and how to go about a company rebrand. We discussed a few reasons that a rebrand may be considered necessary and recommended a few strategies that would be helpful in determining if a rebrand was in the cards.

Today, we’re operating under the assumption that you are, in fact, gearing up for your rebranding activities, and so we wanted to offer some advice on how to actually go about doing it. Make no mistake, a rebrand is not an easy process, and a formidable adversary will be fighting you every step of the way: your former brand identity.

A target. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. For any marketing to be effective, it has to be planned with a distinct target in mind. “Everybody” is not a target, as there are near-countless types of consumers that all have needs that--while they may be similar--are distinctive from one consumer type to another. Therefore, while beginning any marketing initiative, it is crucial that these considerations are kept in mind as you go about tailoring your marketing to your target.

While we’ve spoken at length about how subscribing to a syndicated blog service to provide you with content is perfectly fine, we have to admit that there’s a lot to be said about the benefits of custom content. If used alone, custom content can provide your audience with a direct view of your unique insights, observations, and experiences.

The marketing term “brand” has very literal roots, as it comes from the long-antiquated practice of branding livestock with a symbol that signified who owned that particular animal. Nowadays, however, “brand” implies much more than just a company’s ownership in its name or logo--it also suggests the personality and culture that a company exhibits and embraces. A brand, by design, is meant to shape how a company will be perceived by the public and is therefore a precious and fragile thing that requires careful maintenance. However, once started, developing a comprehensive brand identity and corresponding activity is fairly simple.

Marketing is incredibly important for your business’ success, but only if your marketing is reaching your target audience. How do you do this? You need to relate to your clients and potential clients. It’s like when you’re looking for a new sitter for your child, you don’t pick the first person you talk to and your clients aren’t going to just pick you because they see you first. You’re going to interview and talk to the potential sitters and see which seems like the best fit for your child - who likes to go outside and play, who knows CPR and actually gets along with your child. The same thing goes for your clients and potential clients - they want to make sure you value the same things they do and that you care about them.

With the rise in popularity of inbound marketing, specialty managed IT service providers, and many large enterprises starting to target the SMB market, it’s more important than ever that your MSP demonstrates their capabilities. With so many different options for managed IT, cloud computing, data storage, and other solutions, vertical-specific marketing speaks directly to your skill and experience with that industry.

Facebook Advertising is an excellent resource for business owners. Everything you need to run a successful advertising campaign is all in one place, including your audience. Did you run a successful advertisement, and aren’t sure where to turn? Re-run that campaign to the same audience, well it’s clone, with Facebook’s Lookalike Audiences!

Have you visited a website, left it and then had that company’s ads follow you around the web? This is a marketing tactic known as retargeting (also referred to as remarketing). Retargeting allows you to continue to pursue a suspect or lead who visited your website without converting by displaying ads about content viewed as they continue to browse other websites.

When it comes to managed IT services, the only way to succeed is to successfully relay the value of your services and solutions to your target audience. You’re more than just ‘the computer guy/gal’. You’re an experienced consultant who can help them save money, increase network security, streamline processes, and plan for growth. Your marketing and sales team must be able to demonstrate how your services will benefit your prospects/client, but before you can market to them, you have to understand their needs.

Why did you get into managed IT? Everybody has their own reasons. Was it an industry you fell into, or the result of careful planning? Did you transition from working for the internal IT department of a company? Have you always dreamed of a career in technology, or did you try other industries before finding your niche?

What kind of marketing results is your website producing? Are you attracting new leads that are filling out calls to action, or are people hitting the back button as soon as they read your page’s headline? How you word your sales pitch can make or break your entire marketing campaign.

Have you ever wondered what makes Internet content “go viral?” Obviously, it’s not a matter of logic and professionalism, as we are so painfully reminded by virtually every piece of viral content. However, there is some method to the madness. Research has revealed several trends in viral content which you might be able to take advantage of with content of your own.